Policy choices of next government in Lisbon, whatever its political stripe, will be constrained by the bloc’s tight rules

As alleged coups go, this one failed quickly. Portugal’s minority conservative government fell this week within days of its formation.

When the country’s president appointed the center-right politician Pedro Passos Coelho as prime minister after October’s elections, a combination of left-wing and euroskeptic observers condemned the move as an affront to democracy. The hashtag #PortugalCoup was popular on Twitter.